Checks made at birth

When your baby is born the midwife or medical practitioner will carry out a couple of checks to ensure all is well with your baby. The checks are explained below.

The Apgar score

This is a check which the midwife does at one minute and then five minutes after your baby is born. It is usually done simply by the midwife looking at your baby and assessing his skin colour, his breathing, his heart rate, his movements and his crying.

You may not even notice that the midwife is doing this, but you may notice the score written down as a figure out of 10. So it may say something like 7/10 and 10/10 meaning that he scored 7/10 at birth and 10/10 at five minutes. If the birth score is very low, or the five minute score is lower than about 5 or 6, a paediatrician will usually be called to check the baby over.

General assessment

This involves the midwife making sure that your baby’s body, face and limbs look normal. The midwife will feel inside the baby’s mouth to check that the palate is complete and there is no sign of a cleft palate.

The midwife will also check that there is no problem with the spine, examine fingers and toes and anus, and take the baby’s temperature.

Weight and length

	The midwife will weigh your baby and measure his length and the distance around his head.
	These measurements are takento give an indication of how mature he is and to serve as a starting point from which to measure his growth.